Township Road 240 Upgrade

Project Overview

If you haven’t driven Township Road 240 in a while, it only takes a moment to realize you’ll be in for a bumpy ride.

Chestermere’s southern border road is one of the few remaining gravel roads in the community. Over the past few years its usage has grown and now serves approximately 800 vehicles per day. Despite the best efforts of roads crews who grade the route several times a week, the road is in need of an upgrade.

Aware of its poor condition, an upgrade has been considered for several years. In 2015, the City received a Federal and Provincial grant for $6 Million to assist with the upgrade of the road.

This initiative is a multi-year project that will support the future growth and development of Chestermere, improve access to the City as a whole, help attract commercial and light industrial businesses, and ease traffic congestion on other major transportation routes.

The project consists of upgrading the existing gravel road along Township Road 240 and Range Road 282 to a new paved road. As part of the upgrade two new bridges will be constructed over the Western Irrigation District canals and the bridge over the Alberta Environment canal will be widened. Township Road 240 will be upgraded to a 2 lane urban industrial standard from Hwy 791 to Range Road 284.

The South Link Connector is the extension of Kinniburgh Blvd and upgrade of Range Road 282 to a 2-lane urban collector roadway with a separate walk. A new bridge will be constructed over the canal south of Kinniburgh Blvd to connect it to Range Road 282.

Project Updates

We are pleased to announce that progress is being made on the new bridge south of Kinniburgh that will connect Kinniburgh Boulevard to Range Road 282 and Township Road 240.

On January 15, girders were put in place for the new two-lane bridge over the WID canal.

This new bridge will become the main crossing for vehicle traffic needing to cross the south east canal.

The bridge construction is on track and is expected to open in Fall 2019 at the same time as the upgraded Range Road 282 and Township Road 240 (up to Rainbow Road).

We recognize that long term road construction can be challenging for residents who live in these areas and we appreciate your patience. We look forward to providing you with greatly improved driving experience once the project is complete.

May 2018

Paving 2017 Portion
Road construction crews have begun paving the portion that was prepared last year (from the eastern border to Range Road 282).

They anticipate paving being complete by the end of May. The road will remain open to local traffic but it may be restricted to one lane throughout the construction. Please drive carefully and follow the directions of any traffic personnel.

New 2018 Work Starting Soon!
The 2018 phase of construction on Township Road 240 will begin soon! This includes adding a new canal crossing from Kinniburgh Boulevard and paving Range Road 282 and Township Road 240 from RR 282 to Rainbow Road.

Construction work will begin with underground utility work and then proceed with road work. As a result, this south east access into Chestermere will be closed for the summer. Exact dates will be posted here as they become available.

For more information, call 403-207-2807.

July 2018

The 2018 construction work will begin soon. This includes:

July 23-30: Construction on the intersection at Rainbow Road and Township Road 240 to complete a utility crossing.

We recognize that long term road construction can be challenging for residents who live on these roads and we appreciate your patience. We look forward to providing you with a greatly improved access once the project is complete.

Please note that while these roads will be closed during the indicated construction periods, local access for homeowners in the construction zones will be maintained.

August 2018

Some portions of construction on Township Road 240 are being rescheduled to next year (2019) with the final completion date of October 31, 2019 remaining the same. This will require Twp Rd 240 between RR 282 and Rainbow Rd. to remain closed over the winter.

The following construction will be moved until next year.

The underground utility work will be moved to spring 2019.

Paving of Range Road 282 & TWP Road 240 will now occur in 2019.

The following will continue this year and into 2019:

September 2018: The deep utilities work (under the train tracks) will continue on Range Road 282. This will require a temporary closure at the train tracks. Residents will be notified prior to closure.

Fall 2018: The bridge work (new canal crossing from Kinniburgh Boulevard) will start in the fall when the irrigation season is over and will continue into the spring of 2019.

The decision to move certain tasks of this project to next year, will keep the project on budget and the October 31, 2019 completion date is unchanged.

We recognize that long term road construction can be challenging for residents who live on these roads and we appreciate your patience. We look forward to providing you with a greatly improved access once the project is complete.

September 2018

All work on Township Rd 240 has been delayed until next year but we will be continuing with underground work on RR 282 at the CN rail crossing. This work will require a road closure of RR 282 from September 17 – October 7. Following this closure RR 282 will be open until spring.

Future work scheduled:

Kinniburgh Bridge construction will start once the canal is empty November 1

Utility installation and road construction will start again in the spring for Township Rd 240, RR 282 and Kinniburgh Blvd.

Township Rd 240 between RR 282 and Rainbow Rd. will remain closed until September 2019.

The primary reasons for the project delays are:

Delays to the land acquisition process has resulted in construction activities planned for this year being re-scheduled to next year; pipe installation and pond construction are not possible without the required land.

Delays from the Province in regards to the wetland application and approval process resulted in a two month delay starting construction in the spring

The final completion date of October 31, 2019 has not been affected by the construction delays this year. Thank you for your patience during this construction.

Township Road 240 from Highway 791 to RR 282 is now open for the winter. Due to weather constraints, crews were unable to complete paving this fall. As the sub base work is complete, asphalt will be added in the spring. The next phase of the project is between RR 282 and Rainbow Road and is scheduled to begin in May. Thank you for your patience during construction.

Posted November 14, 2017

Road construction on Township Road 240 has been shut down for the winter. Due to weather conditions, crews were unable to complete paving this year. Over the next several weeks, crews will bring in gravel to smooth out the surface, clean up the approaches and install temporary guard rails at the bridge before de-mobilizing for the season.

The road will be open for the winter. To protect the work completed, the posted speed limit will be 50 km/hr and trucks will be limited to 50%.In the spring it will take approximately a month to complete this phase of the project which includes paving.

The next phase of the project is between RR 282 and Rainbow Road. The City is currently finalizing the design and construction is scheduled to begin in May.

Posted November 2, 2017

Over the last few months, crews have been working on installing utilities and building the foundation of the road between RR 282 and the East Chestermere boundary. All excavation of the roadway is complete and gravel has been installed over the entire project area.

If weather permits, the concrete and asphalt will be completed this fall. Contingency plans are in place to ensure the driving surface is adequate for the winter.

Posted October 18, 2017 Over the past few weeks, we have been working on building the foundation of the road between RR 281 and RR 282. The next portion of the project in this area will be to add gravel to this section. This area will be a very active construction zone and we will complete as much as possible before the weather changes.

Once the preparation work is complete west of RR 281, work will continue east from Range Road 281 to the Chestermere boundary. This work will include creating a strong foundation for the future road. Resident access will be accommodated by only working on one lane at a time and we will work with each residence on a case by case basis.

The excavation work in this area will start Tuesday, October 17th and is scheduled to be completed by Oct 30th. Gravel fill will be placed following the excavation and grading. This should be completed quickly and will provide a suitable driving surface for the winter.

Asphalt will be added to this phase (from Range Road 282 to the Chestermere Boundary) as soon as possible, weather dependent.

**All dates and proposed schedules are weather dependent.

Posted September 22, 2017Construction of Twp Rd 240 is progressing on schedule. The underground utilities are complete and the sub base prep for the road is well under way. Over the next few weeks excavation will continue and the gravel base prep for the asphalt will follow. Construction will continue into the fall as long as weather permits, the road will re-open once construction concludes for the season.

July 2017:

In January of 2017, the project began with the upgrade of the bridge over the canal near Chestermere’s eastern border. The bridge construction is on schedule and will be complete by the end of July.

The next phase of construction is upgrading Twp Rd 240 between RR 282 and the east Chestermere's boundary. In this section of the road there will be utilities such as water, sanitary and storm placed in under road. Once the utilities have been installed the base preparation for the road will begin. Based on preliminary site inspections and a geo-technical report the existing road structure is not suitable to pave so the existing base will be excavated and suitable material will be placed to provide a solid foundation for concrete and asphalt.

The water and sanitary lines being installed will service for new industrial development in the southern parts of Chestermere and will be repaid through offsite levies.

Starting near Range Road 282 and moving east towards the new bridge, this portion of TWP Rd 240 will be closed for the duration of construction (with local access only). Due to weather and regulatory constraints, concrete and asphalt work will commence in the spring. This phase of construction is expected to be complete in July 2018 and will be followed by the upgrade of the section between Range Road 282 and Rainbow Road and RR 282.

May 2017: Over the past few months, work has been underway to replace the bridge over the canal near Range Road 281. All in-canal work is complete, concrete abutments were poured and girders are installed. Work to prepare the bridge approach and the bridge deck will continue over the next few months. We anticipate completing the bridge near Range Road 281 by July.

Starting this summer, crews will demolish and replace the portion of Township Road 240 from Range Road 282 to Highway 791. More information (including detour maps), will be provided in the coming weeks.

Funding
The Township Road 240 upgrade is being funded in part by the Small Communities Fund Grant as well as the City Off-Site Levies (from development). The South Link Connector is being funded by the Kinniburgh Developer(s).

On May 15, Council approved first reading of a borrowing bylaw to cover the upfront costs for this project not funded by grants. The loan, should it move ahead, On July 4, following advertising and public notice of the borrowing bylaw, Council passed 2nd and 3rd reading of the Bylaw. As such, the portion of the project not funded by grants will be repaid to the City through the collection of Roads off-site levies from future development and will cover the front-ending and outstanding costs. Those levies from developers will include payments for interest and administration costs associated with the project.